Stewart barely rolls to win

Some drivers gamble on fuel in Kansas and the Chase standings are shaken up.

October 2, 2006|By Ed Hinton, Sentinel Staff Writer

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Tony Stewart, completely out of gas for the final mile, coasted to the checkered flag ahead of Casey Mears, who was also out of gas. And that 1-2 finish only begins to tell what a mess Sunday's Banquet 400 was -- and what a mess it made of the Chase standings.

Third-place Mark Martin, the highest-finishing driver in the Chase -- and the highest finisher with any fuel left -- simplified the way the finish went: "Everybody tried to make it [the final 69 laps on one tank of gas]. And a lot of 'em didn't."

Stewart won, but Jimmie Johnson should have, and would have, but for a split-second judgment with six laps left. Johnson had a comfortable lead and was headed onto pit road for a splash of gas when Kasey Kahne spun in front of him.

"I thought that would bring out a caution, so I shot back onto the racetrack, and the caution didn't come out," Johnson said.

When the yellow didn't fly, "I lost a bunch of time, and it took track position away."

But Johnson pitted two laps later, only to be caught speeding on pit road and assessed a "pass-through [the pits]" penalty, leaving him to finish 14th and remain mired in eighth among the 10 playoff contenders.

But for the missed guess, "I had such a big lead over the guys running in second and third that I wouldn't have gotten beat by them," even with a quick stop for a splash of fuel.

Stewart, the 2005 NASCAR champion who missed the cut for this year's playoffs, acknowledged there was no way he would have gambled on fuel had he been in contention for the championship.

"We had nothing to lose," Stewart said, "and when we knew those guys can't take that chance, that opened the door."

Jeff Burton padded his lead in the playoff standings by playing it conservatively. He stopped for a splash with eight to go, passing up a shot at his second straight race win for a sure-thing fifth-place finish.

Burton now leads the Chase by 69 points over rookie Denny Hamlin, who finished 18th in the race and yet managed to gain two places in the standings. Martin jumped three places into third, 70 points behind Burton.

Johnson's disaster was the third and last of the day for his Hendrick Motorsports team's three playoff drivers.

The most prominent of those, four-time NASCAR champ Jeff Gordon, plummeted from second to sixth in the standings, 120 points behind Burton, when a fuel pump failed on his Chevrolet with 30 laps left. He wound up 39th in the 43-car field.

Kyle Busch was running second and threatening to win when he was nailed for speeding on pit road under the final caution and ordered to the back of the line for the final restart with 68 laps left. He finished seventh and climbed out of the cellar of the Chase standings, into ninth.

Matt Kenseth struggled with an ill-handling Ford, finished 23rd and dropped to fourth in the standings. A late spin by Kahne left him 33rd Sunday and 10th in the Chase. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran well early and even led 18 laps, but fell back with handling issues and placed 10th, still stuck in seventh.